Tuesday, February 9, 2016

I’ve put 376 hours into Final Fantasy XII. That seems gross,
but I have an excuse. I played FFXII heavily on release; it grabbed Sherri and me.
We swapped out plays, worked through the guide, and tried out combinations.
Mostly we explored every tiny corner to complete everything. At 261 hours in the
house caught fire. That meant an eight month break while they repaired the
house and cleaned the salvageable property. Mercifully that included some of games
and memory cards. But we’d been away long enough we couldn’t pick FFXII up.
We’d lost our sense of the play and we’d saved right before the last dungeon.
So we moved on.

Then this positional vertigo thing sent me to couch &
console. I began with the remastered Final Fantasy X, but the slooooooow start frustrated
me. So I set up the PS2 to go through some of my favorites (actually just two SSX Tricky and SSX III) before popping in FFXII. I’m another 115 hours in at this
point. I’m sure I’m past the halfway mark, but there’s so much to do I can’t
say for certain. I just hit level 51.

So here’s what I love and what I don’t love about Final Fantasy XII. I’m already in the
tank for JRPGs in general, so keep that in mind. As always I think there might be a few lessons for tabletop games to be learned here.

1. World Opens Up
Early

Kelvin Green hit on this in last post’s comments. FFXII learned many
lessons from MMORPGs. Mostly importantly there’s a feeling of space, room, and
exploration. And the game doesn’t keep you from that. There’s an obligatory
introduction mission or two, but even that feels like you have some choice. As
important, you assemble your full party quickly.

1. Plot in the
Distance

Eventually you’ll move on the track of the main quest, but you
have a lot of other options. To make that work, a chunk of the story happens in
cut-away scenes. These take place elsewhere, showing the machinations and
maneuvers happening concurrently. The party still fills a vital role, but
there’s also a sense of distance between you and the bigger story. It feels
real, but perhaps not as engaging as it could be if you’re in the thick of
things. At least it doesn’t have the complete lack of autonomy and agency that
FF XIII does.

2. Friendships

I
really like the main party of six characters. Some are stronger than others,
but I appreciate their backstories. They’re complicated and interesting. But
beyond that we have awesome friendships and relationships among the group. Vann
has recriminations towards Basch at the start but gets over them. Penelo and
Vann have great interactions, and they feel very true. Balthier and Fran are
clearly peers and platonic comrades. The game even has some conversations
between female characters that is not about the party dudes.

2. The Outfits

In general I like the character designs- both of PCs and NPCs. But there are
some exceptions. All three of the lead females have odd attire. The least
problematic is Penelo, especially if you imagine the weird bare arm and leg
portions are actually oddly colored fabric and part of her suit. Ashe’s costume
makes no effing sense. It echoes her wedding dress from the opening cut scene,
but beyond that it looks uncomfortable and barely held on. But the worst is
Fran, with a skimpy suit, prominent cleavage, and astoundingly high heels. It
becomes worse when you visit her homeland and realize all of the Viera are also
scantily clad, heeled, impossibly thin bunny girls. It’s a weird choice and a
strange adaptation of their original cartoony appearance in Final Fantasy
Tactics Advance. On the plus side, two of the male characters also show a lot
of skin. But none of that’s as male-gaze weird as this.

3. Interesting
Systems for Play

FF XII gets a lot of hate for its combat and control system.
They’re wrong. It’s fun, satisfying, and requires smarts. You have a three
person team. Each character can be “programmed” with what the game calls
Gambits. A gambit combines an action and a circumstance. So “Ally Status=
Poison” could be combined with “Antidote.” This allows you to set up healing
patterns, responses to weaknesses, and the use of self-buffs. You run a leader
character who generally follows these actions. But you’ll find yourself
switching and changing orders to match circumstances. You can easily swap
between characters in a fight, set new orders, change equipment, or modify
gambits. Random battles become fun tests of your builds- without the slog of
constant menus and button inputs. There’s still intensity- watching the world
to keep distances, look for new spawns, and avoid gang-ups. I love the random
battles and grinding in this game. The drop frequency and bonus system for
fighting the same creature type enhance this.

3. Drop Rates

You can almost always get drops, but not necessarily the ones you need. The
game offers some control over drop rates by chaining creatures in battle. But
often it’s impractical to do so, given the zone layout. But even if you do
manage to chain a creature you can still be waiting a wicked long time for a
rare drop. It’s worse with Stealing or Poaching which the chains don’t affect.
Add to that creatures give out different things for Drops, Steals, and Poaches.
The same frustration can apply to treasure chests. These respawn if you go
several zone away and return. To make up for this, chest have a % chance to
appear. Then they have an even chance to have money or a treasure.

4. Always Something
Interesting to Do

I’ve almost never gone, “OK I have to go do this next
segment of the story. If I don’t I’m stuck with no options.” You can always
take another path, run into a dangerous area, try to find more stuff. The main
story primarily triggers two things: what the shops have and additional
sidequests. I love running around in the game and just seeing what I can find.

4. Running

There’s a teleport system between save points and it works well. Most of the
time. There are occasions when you’ll find yourself running and running. You
could pay for a Chocobo to ride, but in some places they won’t go into a zone
and will desert you mid-trip. I don’t mind because I dig the landscapes and
there’s plenty to see and fight. (So it isn’t the living hell that is Star
Ocean).

5. Lots of Build
Options

Final Fantasy’s notorious for crazy advancement systems (Sphere Grid,
Learning Skills from Items). This one gives you a good sense of where you need
to build and the option to tailor characters. Buys take place on two huge
“license boards.” Buying a license means you can cast the spell, use the
technic, handle the weapon, wear the armor. You still have to acquire these in
play, but the game makes it clear what you currently have. As a completest, my
goal from word one is to buy ALL the licenses for everyone. You don’t have to
do that- and you could easily tune characters for distinct roles. The
International Version of FFXII apparently includes an optional profession
system (echoing FF Tactics’ approach).

5. Monolithic
Character Builds

While the license boards offer lots of room, it’s pretty
easy to grind a little and buy everything. That can make the characters feel a
little samey. Unlike other games, the characters don’t have huge differences in
what they’re good at. In both FFX and FFXIII characters have definite strengths
with certain roles. That’s less present here.

6. Cool Lands

I
really love the landscapes here and their variety. Each zone feels distinct,
even when they’re running similar climates (desert, jungle, tundra). Some zones
feel huge, others run up and down hills, a few have complicated architectures
and paths for getting around. The cities also feel vibrant, alive, and huge. I
love running around them. They don’t feel like simply a connected set of shops
and stalls.

6. So Cold

There’s an obligatory snow level in the game. I like snow levels. They offer
interesting dynamics and visuals. But all I can think of when I’m watching the
characters run through this is: begeezus crust, put a jacket on, dumbass.

7. Tons of Hunts

Every zone has an interesting assortment of creatures. There’s a nice balance;
if you’re in areas close to your level you’ll have to modulate your approach.
But beyond that the game has two different “Hunt Clubs.” The first has you
talking to patrons who want a particularly nasty beast killed. The fights can
be huge challenges, especially if you go in unprepared. You gain material
rewards as well as little bits of color & setting information. You can also
go after “rare game,” named monsters that pop up according to certain trigger
in different areas. Again, if you’re not expecting them they can wreck your
day. Add in several huge monster side-quests & the hunt for summons. If
you’re tired of grinding you can always switch to a meatier challenge. The game
has lots.

7. The Zodiac Trap

The Zodiac Spear’s a truly dumb thing in the game. The Spear’s the best weapon
in the game and you can find it in a chest late in the game. That’s provided
you haven’t opened any of four special-but-unmarked treasures chests elsewhere
in the world. They’re in different zones and parts of the story. AND THE GAME
GIVES YOU NO CLUE THAT THIS WILL HAPPEN. One of these chests is in an area you
go through early, when you’re desperate for loot. There’s a lot of hidden
information in the game, but that’s the most egregious example. How some
monsters get triggered, where to find certain summons, what drops what…all of
this you have to get from a strategy guide or Game FAQs. I love guides so that
isn’t a problem, but I can see where it could frustrate.

8. Monsters

I
did the heavy grinding in Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2. Those games had
excellent & cool monster designs, beautifully animated. But I think I love the
designs from FFXII even more. From the weirdness of the Adamantitan
to the freakiness of the Coeurl-type
to the insanity of the Esper Cúchulainn,
they’re consistently striking. Even palette swap versions manage to feel
distinct from one another.

8. Traps

You can
see traps if you have Libra up…and you will. You can then steer your main
character by them. But the other two folks in your party? They’re idiots. They
will throw themselves on them. There’s no way to disarm traps. Your only option
is to cast Float so you don’t trigger them. But that can drop at any moment and
then “Boom” effing Basch has once again stumbled over a bomb.

9. Always a Challenge

The game always seems to have places and creatures offering a challenge. And
you can wander into danger spots easily. You have to regroup, fall back, and
figure out a smarter approach. Some areas have several entrances from different
zones, leading into more and more dangerous spots. In one case the obvious
crossroads hides a nasty beast. While you eventually learn what to do and improve
your gear, zones always hold dangers. Elementals pop up in many places. They
don’t agro until someone casts a spell near them. You have to pay attention or
you might find yourself pulled into a nastier fight. You can see beasts on
screen like an MMO, and you’ll have to figure out how to isolate and pull them.
And sometimes fights can turn on a dime. Something triggers and suddenly you’re
having to compensate. I was grinding for a particular drop last night, set up
pretty well to deal with everything in the zone. But then one of the creatures
landed a major status effect spell on my party, hitting all three at once. That
included Confuse which sets party members striking each other. I had one
character down and another weakened before I managed to change my action queue
and flip things around. Even then one of the status effects meant that Phoenix
Downs raised them with 1 HP- so they’d get up and be knocked down again. It was
awesome and sudden.

9. Give Me Gambits

Gambits set your characters actions and priorities. Pretty quickly you’ll start
to think of some great things you could combine- operations for certain cases
and so on. But you won’t have the syntax for them. You want characters to use
the Charge ability to restore lost MP. But it isn’t until the middle of the game
that you get a trigger like “Character’s MP < 20%.” You don’t get “Creature=
Water Weak” or other elemental conditions until well into the game. That means
you’ll have to rely on a small command vocabulary for a long time.

10. Balthier

He’s the best. He’s awesome. While everyone else in the early stages is working
through their personality conflicts, he’s practical, greedy, and pokes fun at
everyone’s attitude. Later he gets a little bit of dark backstory, but he
doesn’t mope about it. Balthier’s a sky pirate and cool without trying. He
would get a good chuckle out of the ‘heroes’ from other FF games. He has my
favorite line, “I'm only here to see how the story unfolds. Any self-respecting
leading man would do the same.”

10. Palette Dullness

While the world’s bright and colorful, there’s a weird neutrality to the hues
on the main characters. Vann and Ashe have the same color hair which looks
weird. It’s a call-back to Vagrant Story, I think- and an effort to be
realistic. It’s OK, but feels like a missed opportunity.

11. Ivalice

FF
XII’s set in Ivalice, one of the few series settings to have multiple games
across several systems. We first saw portions of it in the tough Vagrant Story
action rpg for the PS1. More importantly Final
Fantasy Tactics deepened the world. That amazing game set many of the
future details (skill types, the use of the Zodiac motif). Later two follow ups
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA)
and Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (DS)
extended the lore and added a variety of non-human peoples. Unfortunately only
one more Ivalice game would arrive in the US aftr FFXII, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (DS), a painful pseudo-RTS. I
like Ivalice; it feels consistent and complex. It’s a more conventional fantasy
setting, harkening back to the earliest FF games. But I dig it.

11. Complicated
Story

s’wa? Who is that? Wait, why is he betraying them? So wait, you can
manufacture this stuff but some of it is a relic and they made a sword to break
it? And what are the Espers then? There’s a lot going on in the game and it
isn’t always spelled out clearly. I like it better than the hand-holding plot
walk-through of other games. But the level of depth here can get in the way of
buy-in.

12. Character
Subtlety

This may sound odd, but I love the subtlety of the
characterization here. I’ll admit I didn’t dig it at first, coming to it from
brighter games with cartoony personalities like Final Fantasy X and Dragon
Quest 8. But on a second playthrough, I love how everyone interacts. They have
problems and dramatic pulls, but they evolve and change. You can see their
growth and decision process. And they’re hit with big questions, especially
about the limits of power in the service of a good cause. Ashe is torn on this,
caught between a duty to protect her people and duty to restore her kingdom.
The other characters counter-balance that with wariness about the
destructiveness of the powers they’re harnessing.

12. No Romance

I’m a sucker for love stories in these games. I dig the room to make up my own
head canon (Tidus + Lulu). But FFXII is bare-bones in regard to this. The
closest we get is Ashe’s feelings and sorrow over her husband’s death.